


Grudging respect

by UMsArchive



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Gen, yurio seems to think better of him than he expected, yuuri picks up nikolai from the airport for yurio
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-18 12:38:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10617099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UMsArchive/pseuds/UMsArchive
Summary: Everyone else had their flight delayed on their way back from Europeans, so Yuuri has to pick Yuri’s grandfather up from the airport. It should be quite awkward. He doubts Nikolai knows him of all skaters. If ever, he might have only heard very irritating remarks about him from Yuri.





	

 

Yuri sounded almost grudging when he makes the call, pretty much like he’s been forced to. And Yuuri guessed the circumstances in themselves kind of did force him into making that call. Also, his speech sounded as if he’s been given clear direction on how to properly make the demand, probably from his others companions who Yuuri kind of expected hadn’t wanted to just make that call for the youngest Russian just for the purpose of seeing him struggling with such a oddly mundane request.

 

But Yuuri was not a fan of making people anxious, given his own experiences with fretting and anxiety. And so when the blonde boy was the first to call him about the flight delay, Yuuri guessed what the fuss must have been about and spared his young rival the effort and mortification of getting to the part where he would have to say ‘please’.

 

“Oh, is it about your grandfather’s arrival? You want me to pick him up since you might not be in time?” Yuuri asked gently even before Yuri would’ve had the chance to open the subject.

 

“Yeah,” was all he heard from the other line and Yuuri could feel the suppressed sigh in the other’s voice, maybe even a tinge of gratitude for being saved from a task and challenge of his vulnerability. “Will you do that?” he added, speaking as if he just asked for a confirmation, not the plead itself, but Yuuri could sense the residual uncertainty.

 

“Of course, Yurio,” he didn’t delay his answer, mercifully not prolonging Yuri’s state of uneasiness.

 

“Yeah, ok,” there was a pause and Yuuri only supposed the hesitation had to do with thanking him, before a shortly cut, “-the old man wants to talk to you now,” and a sound of tossing the phone away with a muffled sing-sung, “Yuriiiio, did you say  _ thank you _ ?” from his fiance that confirmed to him the whole plot of teasing the young blonde.

 

“Yuuri,” his fiance’s happy voice came in full quality on the line next, “This is dreadful, we’ve been here for 2 hours and there’s no other flight in the meantime - it’s so unfair,” he started lamenting, then went on on a different tone of voice without giving Yuuri the time to show sympathy or such, “How are you? How is Makkachin? Is your quad Lutz getting more consistent?-”

 

Yuuri sighed at the silliness, but melted into the warm voice of his fiance anyway. It was terrible and odd these days, realizing how much he -  not depended, not truly relied - but simply truly entrusted in and fell into his presence so comfortably. A stranger a year ago, now such a normal part of his life that, no, it didn’t hurt to be apart, but it felt numb, which is sometimes worse than pain. But so it was now, kind of scary, kind of comforting.

 

***

Yuuri really hoped Nikolai wasn’t a chatty person. Or at least that he was the kind of person to keep a conversation up on his own, because he, for one, wasn’t the one to do well with strangers. He guessed, as a last resort, they could always talk about how talented and accomplished his grandchild was, which he wouldn’t need to lie about, and it would all be going nice and well if he didn’t have to say anything about his temperament.

 

Nikolai walked towards the exit slowly, with the lack of urgency old people normally have, carrying a rather compact luggage. Of course, the first thing he did was complain about planes and how he wasn’t used to them and how unnecessary he had found the trouble of taking a plane for merely getting from Moscow to St Petersburg. 

 

Yuuri listened patiently, nodding when it seemed appropriate to nod and collecting Nikolai’s luggage to carry it himself.

 

“You’re a really good friend to do this for Yurotchka. I told him I could just find a taxi, though. I wish he wouldn’t have bothered you,” he added politely eventually, smiling gently. “You have practice, too.”

 

“Oh, I had already finished for today,” Yuuri assured, waving it off. 

 

“Either way, you could’ve used the rest. A world class skater like you must have a really painstaking training regime, just like Yurotchka I know does. You could certainly do without the extra fatigue and lost time to do this. It must’ve taken you at least half an hour of traffic only to get here, and surely you’ve also been waiting here some-?” Nikolai went on, but Yuuri was quite caught up in the part where Yurio’s very grandfather regarded him as some high class athlete with schedules too busy for the mundane.

 

“Ah, yes, there’s quite some traffic through the city,” Yuuri finally spoke, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, “but I wasn’t here for long, though, about 10 minutes or so.”

 

“Even so,” Nikolai insisted kindly, then added. “I know you need to get ready for Four Continents. Yurotchka is really looking forward to watch it. He says there’s no way anyone but you will get the gold. I agree with him, too, but he obviously knows things better than I do, so his opinion you may count on more.”

 

“Uh, he... did…?” Yuuri blurted out.

 

“Oh, he is your fan, too, of course he would believe in you. But by being your rinkmate, he also knows to be objective, I’m sure, seeing you outside of the competitions’ outstanding presence and all.”

 

“Right,” Yuuri coughed, not quite agreeing the ‘outstanding presence’ point in regards with his performances, but it was one point in between many he had yet to register. Why would Nikolai think Yurio was ‘his fan’ of sorts, Yuuri couldn’t say? Maybe he irritated Yurio so much, Nikolai mistook him constantly mentioning Yuuri for some kind of admiration symptom.

 

“Don’t tell me on it, but he’s really jealous of your step sequences. It really frustrates him about his own,” Nikolai added with good humour, while Yuuri loaded the baggage in Victor’s car.

  
Yuuri couldn’t help but look up in bewilderment this time, but Nikolai didn’t seem to notice, already opening the front door, “He’s really worried about Worlds for that matter, but be sure it won't be easy to beat him. My Yurotchka is quite something," he assured.

 

"Oh, that definitely," Yuuri nodded going through the motions of starting up the car quite mindlessly.

"The glasses make you look a bit different from television," Nikolai remarked.

 

"Mhm," Yuuri mumbled, looking out at the road.

 

"-and from Yurotchka's posters." 

 

Yuuri barely avoided an accident.

 

 

 


End file.
